Nightmare's Saga

[skatzman]

I have an actuater with broken planetary gears. The plastic threaded part where the two parts of the cylindar screws together is the part broken. The motor works well. I would be willing to buy yours for the parts or give you mine if you could use it. Let's make a deal!

 

[Daydreamer]

Here's what I've been up to lately.

Bought couple of 100 watt solar panels and some 316 tubing for a rack.
Fastened the panels together and made some clamps out of a piece of aluminum.
I'll cross brace the rack / arch to the stern pulpit.
Nightmare is now wired with a Victron 75/15 MPPT charge controller.

With good sun I'll have plenty of power, although that is rarely the case, so I've heard.

Maybe I can get it mounted before the Faralones race for a pre LongPac shakedown.

 

[Philpott]

Here's what I've been up to lately.

Beautifully done, Greg! Even the photography is nice. Like your sailing shots.

 

[BobJ]

Those are nice-looking panels (and they're dark blue). What brand and dimensions are they?

 

[Daydreamer]

They are Renogy Eclipse panels.
40.8x20.7x1.4 inches
Together with supporting hardware weigh 38 pounds.
Not including the stainless arch.

https://www.renogy.com/renogy-eclipse-100-watt-12-volt-monocrystalline-solar-panel/#tab_prd-specs

I thought the cost per wattage was good, and, if they survive the SHTP I'll put them on my camper.

 

[Daydreamer]

My E-rudder arrived, some assembly required.


I laid up three layers of 1/2 inch, 5 lb divinycell for a core.
Almost ruined though. I didn't put any release under it when I vacuum bagged it to the floor of my shop.
Fortunately some light chiseling freed it!


I made a couple of NACA 0012 foil templates out of plywood and fastened them to the ends.
Roughed the shape with a power plane.


Made a long sanding board to finish the shape.


Next steps will be to laminate with fiberglass and vacuum bag it.
More to come!

 

[jamottep]

Cool stuff!

 

[mike cunningham]

Nightmare, back to your arrays. Are you going to use the original MC4 connectors that came with the arrays? I cut mine off and went with sealed butt splices thinking these would be more water tight than the MC4. Everything worked for the shtp but splices showed some corrosion when I took a look back home. I put MC4s back on. Any thoughts?

 

[Philpott]

My E-rudder arrived, some assembly required. View attachment 2355

LOL! Some assembly required indeed! Greg, your creation is just gorgeous. And to think it may serve you in an emergency, far offshore. Very impressive. Hope you never need it. Jackie

 

[Daydreamer]

Nightmare, back to your arrays. Are you going to use the original MC4 connectors that came with the arrays? I cut mine off and went with sealed butt splices thinking these would be more water tight than the MC4. Everything worked for the shtp but splices showed some corrosion when I took a look back home. I put MC4s back on. Any thoughts?

Hi Mike
Yes, I plan to use the MC4 connectors. They have nice o-rings and with some silicon grease should do fine.
I do have spare connectors and if they really don't work out I would replace with a butt connector sealed with 4200 .

 

[mike cunningham]

Yea, good idea, I will apply some dielectric grease to each connector.

 

[Daydreamer]

Here are the solar panels mounted and cross braced to the stern pulpit.
They are running through a Victron MTTP 75/15 charge controller.
With good sun it will run the autopilot and other systems 24/7.

Never, ever, change anything before you go offshore !!
I had the system working for the OYRA Farallones race, then changed to power the boat systems through the charge controller load circuit.
Tuesday the 4th before the start of the LongPac, I discovered the controller would not power the autopilot correctly, so I switched the wiring to supply the boat systems directly from the batteries.
Batteries were fully charged for the start of the race and everything appeared in good order.
Thursday a.m. as the sun came up , the power didn't. It turns out I did not switch off the load circuit on the charge controller, but trying to use the app on my phone made me really seasick.
I rewired the controller to get the batteries charging, and took a nap.
Voltage came back up and the system worked through the rest of the LongPac.

 

[Daydreamer]

Here i am vacuum bagging the first 3 wraps of 10 oz glass and epoxy.
I added two layers of mat and another 3 wraps of 10 oz later.

 

[Daydreamer]

I designed a bracket for the transom and a good friend did the machine work and welding for me.
Here it is mounted.

 

[BobJ]

Greg, when I asked if you could bring the rudder on Wednesday I didn't realize you were still building it - sorry about that!

 

[Daydreamer]

It is actually done, I'm just getting around to posting some pics !!

 

[Philpott]

It is actually done, I'm just getting around to posting some pics !!

View attachment 2827

Ooohhh!!! Very impressive. I look forward to seeing it Wed night. How much does it weigh.

 

[The Smokester]

Nice beads on those welds.

 

[Sailronin]

Wow, great job on the rudder. Very clean build.

 

[AlanH]

That’s a sweet job, I’ve always been intimidated by vacuum bagging. I bet that’s under 25 pounds, too.

I have to say, though, that I have my doubts about unreinforced plywood of the bottom cassette gudgeon being able to take the loads of a big broach. Is there something in there backing up the wood that we can’t see?